


Confrontation

by VJuniorVasquez



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Happy now- you bunch of toxic amourshippers????, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23582179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VJuniorVasquez/pseuds/VJuniorVasquez
Summary: Ash has problems to show affection to Gou in public, so he reaches out to someone he believes might understand him...Needless to say, Serena isn't happy about the idea of her crush having a boyfriend...
Relationships: Gou/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Comments: 39
Kudos: 251





	Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

> Many many thanks to my best friend Michi for helping me come up with this idea! You're the greatest friend this writer could ask for! :)  
> Well, to everyone (or maybe the same stupid person with eight accounts) insisting by DM on Twitter on how "Serena is the only true soulmate of Ash and blah blah blah"...  
> ENJOY AND GET A LOAD OF THIS ONE-SHOT, SUCKERS!!!!

“One week to do whatever we like, no researches, not having to stay in the Lab, we can go anywhere, we can do anything we want” Gou exclaimed excitedly

Ash simply nodded, but remained silent, and Gou frowned

“Please don’t tell me you’re planning to spend our whole free week battling other trainers”

“Maybe…” Ash confessed “What was your plan? Catching and completing your Pokedex?”

Gou hugged him and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, he looked at his eyes and smiled

“I wanted to explore the world with my boyfriend”

Ash froze in place. He still wasn’t used to that word, and Gou knew it. The Pallet Town native looked down, embarrassed

“I’m sorry” Gou said quickly “I shouldn’t have…”

“No!” Ash interrupted him “Don’t be sorry! I’m sick of being so shy, of hiding and looking down every time you kiss me. I want everyone to know…”

He stopped mid sentence, and looked down again. Gou knew very well how hard it was to his boyfriend to talk about all that stuff. Despite being the bravest, strongest person Gou ever met, Ash Ketchum had problems to admit his newfound feelings.

For so long, Gou thought Ash was dense, or simply oblivious to his advances, but Ash always noticed how much Gou liked him, and he liked Gou back, very much. Still, it was so hard to talk about that, to express it in an understandable way, even to confess it to his friends.

This entire “boyfriend” thing was very new and strange for him, and he was very afraid to say or do the wrong thing. Gou tried to be as supportive as he could, but sometimes, that wasn’t enough.

“I want everyone to know how much I love you” Ash completed

“What was that?” Gou asked

“I love you” Ash admitted

“It’s the first time you’ve told me that” his boyfriend commented, blushing

Ash nodded

“I think I’m ready to tell the entire world you’re my boyfriend!” he exclaimed, and it was Gou’s turn to be embarrassed

“Why don’t we start with something tinier? Like your mother, for example, or maybe one of your friends…”

Ash pondered the question for a moment, and decided there was someone who should know about that, someone who was always attentive and supportive with him

“Let’s go to Kalos” Ash offered, and Gou immediately accepted

Ash looked through the plane’s window when the first memory came to his mind. Leaving his friends after every journey was never easy, but Kalos was especially hard for him. Through the last years, and alongside Gou, he had the chance of returning to every Region he had previously visited, but for some reason, he always tried to avoid Kalos.

Maybe this was a bad idea after all, maybe he could avoid being here again, maybe he should run away, and pick another destiny…

“Everything’s fine” Gou interrupted his thoughts, taking his hand softly

“I was…”

“Having doubts” Gou completed and Ash nodded slowly “I can see it in your face”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s not a common look in you, but you’re awfully quiet and you haven’t looked away from the window in the last hour. Besides, your hand is moving like when you’re stroking Pikachu’s fur”

Ash blinked, aware that there was no one on his lap and looked at his left, finding Pikachu sleeping between Gou’s legs. His boyfriend was busy petting the electric Pokemon with one hand, while drawing circles over the head of a not-so annoyed Raboot, standing at the side of his seat.

“Please don’t tell me you’re sorry Ash, I don’t mind this at all” Gou added, and Ash looked away, he was just about to say that “Now, what’s wrong?”

“I wish I could tell you what’s on my mind, but I’m not even sure myself right now”

Gou stopped petting Pikachu and squeezed Ash’s hand, putting his head in his boyfriend’s shoulder

“Tell me all about it in your own time Ash, I’ll still be here”

The trainer fell silent, wondering why in the world Gou was so patient with him…

They were walking through the airport when Ash froze in place once again. Gou, Pikachu, and Raboot stared at the unmoving trainer, who had his eyes fixed on an escalator

“She’s gonna get mad, isn’t she?”

Gou knew very well who Ash was referring to, but the trainer continued:

“We were right there, at the top of that escalator, when she kissed me, and I never had the chance to tell her how I felt back then”

“How did you feel?” Gou asked

“Wrong” Ash simply replied, turning around and leaving the place. Gou rushed to his side and pressed his arm against his own, and Ash flinched at the contact

“It shouldn’t be this hard!” Ash shouted, and the outburst surprised his boyfriend “It shouldn’t be so hard to tell her I felt wrong with her, and I feel right with you”

“You could say that in a different way” Gou proposed “Less insulting, maybe?”

“There’s no other way” Ash confessed “She cared about me, about my feelings, about my well-being, she took my hand, more than once, she smiled at me so brightly, and she kissed me back there!”

“What’s the problem, then?”

“That I never felt the same way she did, but I never been able to tell her that”

Gou wanted to say maybe that was the reason why Ash was so unable to talk about his feelings, but this wasn’t the time to deepen the wound. So he simply took his hand. Pikachu jumped to Ash’s shoulder and Raboot tapped his knee gently. Ash raised his head, and smiled again…

They were on route to Coumarine City when Ash commented the fact that Serena didn’t know about their relationship

“You haven’t told anyone, you dummy” Gou replied with a smile “And if you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to either”

“What do you mean?”

“Just for today, we can be a couple of friends hanging around, nothing special between us…”

“Oh…”

“Is there something wrong?”

“I told her I’d meet her today, I guess I should have said I was going with a friend”

“I don’t mind if you go alone”

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

“Maybe a little” Gou confessed “I mean, you’re so decisive, brave and smart in your Pokemon battles, I’ve always wondered why you’re not like that with the rest of things, including us”

Ash looked away. There it was again, that strange attitude, Gou wasn’t going to remain silent, not again.

“You’re not trying to avoid this, aren’t you?” the boy questioned, raising an eyebrow

“I wouldn’t say exactly that, but…”

“Ash…”

“Ok, maybe I’m not sure about…”

“Ash…”

The trainer didn’t reply, and Gou touched the arm of the taxi driver, indicating:

“We’re getting off here, thank you”

The vehicle stopped and Gou got off, dragging Ash with him. Gou looked at Pikachu and Raboot and indicated:

“Could you watch over us for a few minutes, please?”

Both Pokemon nodded and stayed on the sidewalk, aware of their surroundings. Still, Gou looked around the place, and when he was sure no one was watching, he pushed Ash towards a dark alley, kissing him with force.

“We only do this before a battle” Ash commented

“This is a battle, Ash. It’s a personal one and I want you to win” Gou commented, grabbing his boyfriend’s shirt and kissing him again

Even in the darkness, Ash could see how flustered Gou was. He hugged him tightly and said

“Come with me, please”

“Now you want me to come with you?” Gou asked with amusement

“If I’m gonna do this, I don’t want to be alone”

“You don’t have to, I told you I’d be here, remember?”

Ash nodded and Gou took his hands. The boy from Vermillion City kissed him again, and Ash stayed in place, holding Gou firmly.

“We have to move at some point, Ash”

“I don’t want to”

“We still have to” Gou replied with a smile, grabbing Ash’s cheeks and squeezing them.

The couple looked at their Pokemon and the creatures nodded, confirming they could leave without being seen.

Serena picked the meeting place for a special reason, and Ash was aware of that. He and Gou were getting close to the Pledging Tree when the trainer spotted her, Gou saw a flash of doubt for a moment, but Ash continued walking.

She has changed her look again, after so many years. Her hair seemed to be back at her original length, and her new outfit was a mixture between red and pink, something that made impossible to avoid the blue-sky ribbon in her chest. The girl ran towards Ash as soon as she could and jumped straight to his arms, he hugged her for a moment, quickly letting her go with a smile, and deciding to talk first.

“It’s nice to see you again, Serena” he didn’t wait for a response, quickly adding “These are my new friends, Go and Raboot”

“Nice to meet you” she said to Gou, and quickly kneeled down to pet the fire-type Pokemon

Raboot looked at her, so she was the girl who made doubt Ash so much, and by extension made his trainer uncomfortable? He turned around, clearly uninterested by her presence

“He’s like that with everyone, don’t worry” Gou quickly commented, and Raboot huffed

Serena didn’t seem to mind, getting up and smiling again. Gou shot a look at his Pokemon, but Raboot wasn’t going to apologize.

A few minutes later, the trio went to a Café, and Gou couldn’t help but notice how Serena looked at Ash at every chance she could find. Clearly, she was still having feelings for him. The boy from Vermillion City knew that very well, since he and Ash used to share those same looks practically every day.

Another thing Serena couldn’t stop doing was talking, he told the boys about all of her achievements in Hoenn, all the people she met, and the progress in her showcases, when she mentioned she returned to Kalos to “recapture some of the excitement of her past travels”, she stopped, looking at Ash

“You’re here for the same thing, aren’t you?” she asked with a smile

Ash opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Gou decided it was time to take action

“We’re here as researchers, we’re trying to figure out why so many flying-type Pokemon are attracted by the currents of the Kalos Canyon”

“It’s a pretty popular place to practice Sky Battles, we were there back when we were travelling, do you remember Ash?” the girl interrupted, and her crush simply nodded

“Yes, but there must be a reason for that” Gou countered “And even if we don’t find anything, Ash wants to help me to fill my Pokedex”

“Researching and completing the Pokedex?” Serena commented “That doesn’t sound like you at all, Ash”

The trainer seemed to react in that moment

“I like doing all of that!” he said cheerfully “Working for Professor Sakuragi is super fun, and he makes sure to give us all we need in exchange!”

“All you need?” Serena questioned, curious

“Food, baths, a comfy bed for me and Gou” Ash replied “I don’t remember when was the last time I camped in the wild, but apart from that, it’s been a really fun experience”

“I didn’t know you could like those things… What about being a Pokemon Master?”

“I’m making progress for that too!” Ash replied, pulling out his phone “Look, I’m the 245th best trainer in the World Championship!”

“That seems… good, I guess?” Serena said

“It’s not only good; he won 15 battles in the last month!” Gou interjected, proudly

“Well, having you around was a great boost” Ash commented, and Serena noticed that, for a moment, both boys blushed; she tried to ignore that and switched the topic, pulling out her phone:

“I want you to see this and tell me what you think”

Ash paid attention to the screen. It was one of Serena’s performances; he looked at the date and realized it happened yesterday. She danced around the stage, with the same energy and smile as always, but something was different this time. The stage was filled with a bright blue light, and every time she or one of her Pokemon made a spin, the blue lights intensified, only to dim a little a few seconds later.

Serena finished her performance, looking right at the camera and smiling, making a heart-shaped figure with her hands.

“That looked great!” Ash said and the way Serena smiled reminded him how uncomfortable he felt right now

“What’s with all the blue lights?” Gou asked

“My favorite color” the girl replied “It reminds me so much of you, Ash”

“Maybe you shouldn’t cling too much to the past, Serena” Ash commented out of the blue

He didn’t meant to be harsh, but the trainer was reaching a point where he couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room anymore

“But we had a great past” the performer argued, and Ash tried to ignore the sadness reflected in her eyes for a moment, looking at his boyfriend, he whispered

“Maybe… I changed my mind, again”

“About?” Gou asked

The trainer went silent, and the other boy understood. Ash was trying his best to confront his past; he needed Gou at his side at the beginning, but not right now.

Ash looked down, embarrassed to admit Gou was right and he couldn’t be the decisive and sure of himself boy he usually was.

“I get it, don’t worry. We’ll be around the corner if you need us” Gou commented, touching his hand briefly before getting up and leaving, followed by Pikachu and Raboot

“What was that?” Serena asked

“He understands me” Ash confessed “He knows I need to tell you this alone. I’m sorry, Serena”

“What for?”

“For not accepting you” Ash said, and closing his eyes, he continued

“I’m not the right one for you, and you’re not the right one for me, that’s why you should stop thinking about the past. Let it go Serena, please”

The girl’s eye twitched

“What are you talking about, Ash?” She said, and her voice cracked for a second

“You think I didn’t notice? The looks, the smiles, and the kiss you gave me before I left?”

She went silent for a second, and Ash took the chance and continued:

“Did you ever think how that felt for me?”

“It felt great to me!” she confessed

“I asked about me, not about you, Serena” Ash replied coldly

“Well, you went still after I kissed you, and then you smiled and waved at me, I thought you were happy!”

“You took me by surprise, what I was supposed to do?”

“Well, tell me now… How did that felt?”

“Confusing”

“Why?”

“Because I never asked for a kiss, I never wanted a declaration; I wasn’t expecting you to do that!”

“I needed to do it” Serena argued “You were so oblivious!”

“I wasn’t! I always noticed your advances!”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

Ash reached a point where he couldn’t hide his feelings anymore; he took a deep breath and let it all out in one sentence:

“Because I never liked you back, Serena”

Ash saw the shock in his friend’s face, which only deepened when he added:

“Not in the way you liked me, at least”

“But… You were so kind to me” the girl said, fighting back some tears

“I’m kind to everyone, I’m sorry if you thought that meant… something special” Ash admitted

“Being kind right now would be reciprocating my feelings”

“I told you, I can’t do that”

Serena got up from her table and approached Ash. She looked at him and the boy realized she was too close.

“I bet I can convince you” she said, leaning towards him

Ash put a hand in front of her face and denied with his head

“Just stop, I don’t need a kiss from you; I don’t _want_ a kiss from you”

“You can’t just ignore everything we went through, remember when I help you to get out of the Cave of Mirrors? What about taking care of you when you were sick? Or when I helped you out after you lost to Wulfric?” Serena said, and Ash started to notice the exasperation in her voice

“I remember all of that” Ash interjected “And I thank you for everything, but… My feelings were the same back then than now, you’re just a very good friend”

“Huh?” The performer exclaimed, huffing “Now you’re an expert on feelings?”

“What does that mean?”

“You are dense as a rock, Ash Ketchum, and after all this time you show up in front of me, pretending to know everything about love…”

“I don’t know everything about love” Ash argued “But Gou helped me, a lot”

“How could he?” Serena said, flinching at the mention of the other boy. Ash went silent and looked down, and then something happened, something Serena didn’t remember happened ever since she met Ash.

The Pallet Town trainer blushed, hard.

“You _can’t_ like him” Serena said immediately

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t like boys!”

“I do! And I like Gou! A lot!” Ash said, raising his voice

“What about my Fennekin suit? You were totally attracted by it, or all the times you praised me for my looks?” She countered, and Ash was getting tired of it

“This is not about you, Serena”

“I’m just trying to make you see I’m perfect for you” she insisted, putting a hand over his. He let go quickly and replied

“That’s not what I think!”

“Because you don’t see it yet, just stay a couple of days with me, and I’ll prove to you…”

“You don’t need to prove me anything! You just can’t change how I feel!”

“I’m just trying to help you!”

“Then accept I like Gou, because that’d be a huge help” the boy replied

“I can’t do that! Not when you are my goal, not when I did this, all of this, for you”

“Start doing things for yourself, then”

The way Ash said that forced Serena to take a step back and stare at him in shock, so she tried one last desperate attempt

“I love you” she said

“Look outside” Ash replied, and Serena frowned “See those bushes across the street?”

Serena nodded

“Gou’s there. And I love him”

“How can you know?”

“He’s always there to me, and I always listen to him, and I always can see him. I love him so much, that no matter where he is, my Aura will lead me right back to him”

“He’s spying on you”

“He cares for me” Ash quickly replied

“He’s a stalker! He can’t leave you alone for two seconds!”

“I told you before Serena. He understands me; he knows I don’t want to be alone, not really, not now, not ever… So he stays close to me, even when other people can’t see him”

“I always stayed close to you”

“For the last time Serena, this isn’t about you”

“Then why the hell you wanted to see me again?”

“You know how hard it is to say I love another boy?” Ash argued, lowering his voice “You know how scared I am to admit that in public? Me and Gou can’t even hold hands in the middle of a crowd, because I’m nervous and scared, all the time! He said I should start letting out my feelings little by little, and I chose you because I thought you’d understand how I feel”

But Serena wasn’t going to accept that

“I don’t understand you” she claimed, turning around “You loved me and suddenly…”

“I never loved you” Ash insisted, already tired “But I came because I care about you and I thought it would make you happy to know I found someone like Gou”

“We are meant to be together, why would I care if you choose someone else?”

Ash was unable to say anything else, so he simply got up and exited the Café. Gou, Pikachu and Raboot came out of the bushes and ran quickly to his side. The trainer simply sat on the sidewalk in silence. Pikachu jumped to his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek, Raboot took his hand and put it between his ears, and Gou sat at his side.

“This was a bad idea” Ash confessed

“I guess it wasn’t what you expected, right?”

“If she doesn’t get me, then no one will…”

“Let me fix that” Gou said, getting up

“You don’t have to…”

“Remember when I said this was a personal battle?” Gou asked, and Ash nodded

The boy from Vermillion City gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the lips and added

“Let’s make it a tag battle, then. I’ll take it from here”

Ash barely had time to nod before Gou rushed back to the Café. Serena was still sitting at her table, and the boy sat in front of her. He put a hand in front of her face and commented:

“Before you say anything, let me tell you why we came here”

Serena remained silent, and Gou continued:

“He’s kind and attentive and supportive and a great boyfriend, but only when we’re alone. If there’s someone else around, then he freezes up, he’s so scared of being judged by others that he prefers to keep our relationship a secret”

“So…?”

“So, he picked you, out all of his friends, because he thought that if someone like you could accept him, then everyone could. So you’re going to get up, go to him and you’ll tell him you accept him”

Serena got up and approached Gou. The boy saw her eyes, flaming with rage and she almost spat her next words:

“I don’t know why he thinks you deserve him, but you don’t”

Gou raised an eyebrow

“That’s not your decision to make, it’s his”

The performer took Gou by the arm and warned:

“He’s going to be back to me as soon as he gets tired of you”

“He was never yours in the first place”

“Listen to me” she insisted “He does that, he’ll travel around the world with you and one day, he’ll simply leave”

“Then I’ll make sure to enjoy each and every moment with him until that happens” Gou replied “In the meantime, he’s giving me something special, something that he never gave you”

“What?”

Gou didn’t respond, he got up and exited the Café, and Serena followed him quickly, Gou ran to Ash’s side. The trainer was still sitting on the sidewalk. His boyfriend helped him to get up and asked:

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course”

“What?” Serena interrupted “What Ash gave to you that he never gave to me?”

“Call out Dragonite, please” Gou said, and Ash obeyed. The Dragon Pokemon stared at the couple, waiting for instructions.

That’s when Gou decided to kiss Ash. A long, deep kiss on the lips made the trainer close his eyes and his breath interrupted for a few seconds. Serena stared at them in shock and Gou separated from his boyfriend, climbing Dragonite’s back, with Ash, Pikachu and Raboot following him quickly.

Gou directed his gaze towards Serena and simply commented:

“When I kiss Ash, he kisses me back”

Gou patted Dragonite’s back and the Pokemon flew to the skies, the expansive wave made Serena lost her balance and she fell to the floor, watching how her crush and his boyfriend flew away.

Night had fallen over Kalos when Dragonite descended in the middle of another City. Raboot and Pikachu ran away, thinking that their trainers might need some time alone, and even Dragonite was kind enough to touch his own Pokeball, returning to it quickly.

“So…” Gou commented, unsure of how to begin the conversation “Six days without research work, what do you want to do now?”

“I don’t know…” Ash confessed

Gou felt silent, and the trainer added:

“But as long as you’re here with me, I guess I can try anything”

Ash approached his boyfriend and Gou started to look around for any non-wanted witnesses, the other boy took his chin and forced him to look at his face

“I don’t care about that”

“You don’t?”

“Not anymore”

“Why the sudden change?” Gou asked

“Because of what you said in front of Serena. You asked me if I trust you, and I do, there’s nothing else that matters to me as much as that”

Gou was about to reply something, but Ash kissed him.

And for a moment, they didn’t care about other people.

Except the two of them…

**Author's Note:**

> Going back to pure fluff next time, but I REALLY needed to get this out of my system  
> Spam, swearing, death threats?  
> Down below please! Or come insult me at Twitter, @VJuniorVasquez It's nice and therapeutic!  
> I'll see you soon!


End file.
